> they are microcontrollers optimized first and foremost for cost and power efficiency
ESP32 is only optimized for cost. Other wireless MCU are significantly lower power... they are just more expensive (and tend to have worse docs then ESP32).
Various hibernation modes are great, but 300ma@5v sometimes feels too hungry for the amount of computation in there. I bet things would be better if it wasn’t 45nm ‘pitch’. They are great chips, but require more power than you might expect if you’re doing something network-heavy or, god forbid, using the camera. Unfortunately there’s no competitive alternatives for the hobbyist.
> they are microcontrollers optimized first and foremost for cost and power efficiency
ESP32 is only optimized for cost. Other wireless MCU are significantly lower power... they are just more expensive (and tend to have worse docs then ESP32).